Learning through travel: Adventures in India with people I love

By Madeleine Gefke ‘20, Keystone Foundation Fellow 2020-2022

During my time in India, I have had the incredible blessing of loved ones making the long journey across the world to adventure with me. These plans have not only given me moments to look forward to throughout my fellowship, but also have provided me with really interesting time stamps to track my progress around living and working here. Now that my last visit from friends during my fellowship is over, my reflections have encouraged me to feel proud of the growth and learning I have experienced as a Shansi Fellow!

Train to Alleppey

Maddie with partner Forest with the houseboat

My first visit came when my partner, Forest, traveled from California to Kotagiri in mid-September, about 4.5 months into my fellowship. I felt such strong anticipation, nervousness combined with excitement, around him coming after having maintained a relationship long-distance for so long. But when I saw him walk out of the Coimbatore airport, my worries completely dissolved. We spent a few weeks exploring the Kerala coast in Kochi and Alleppey, the stunning Himalayas region in Leh Ladakh and Manali, and the tea, forest, and grassland landscapes of Kotagiri in which I live and work. Before Forest visited, I had only traveled outside of Kotagiri one time with my co-Fellow Reet to Mumbai and Pune, so I still felt new to planning travels around India. My unfamiliarity led me to pester all of my friends for advice and recommendations, with lots of chaotic calls and texts with Forest as my mind flip-flopped around. I didn’t want to take any chances. We ended up having a really great time walking around Fort Kochi, eating impeccable seafood on a houseboat in the backwaters, exploring the shops on Leh’s wide boulevards, trekking to alpine lakes, and exploring neighboring hill stations in the Nilgiris! I felt bare without any language background in Kerala and Ladakh, but I realized we could still navigate and lean on the many kind people we met along the way who pointed us in the right directions, even without words. That was amazing. We definitely had our share of challenges, which seems to happen no matter how hard I try to prevent these situations! At one point, Forest had to visit a hospital in Leh for altitude symptoms, and miscommunications with bus drivers at the stand in Ladakh had us showing up at the agreed upon time only to hear that our ride from Leh to Manali had left at 2am the night before. We were anxious to descend to lower elevation for Forest’s health, we had trekking guides booked over the next few days in Manali, and the 13-hour drive was not an insignificant trip. I felt my gut tie up in knots, my mind funneling into worst-case scenarios, frustration bubbling up, totally at a loss on what to do. But traveling with Forest is such a gift, and his problem-solving got us a discounted private cab the next day and reassurance that everything would be okay. Which it was! Back in Kotagiri, I took Forest to some places I knew, showing him my life here: the veg shop, my walk to work, my favorite tea stall, weekend outings to Coonoor and Ooty, and my community. That was so special to share with him.

Main Street of Leh Ladakh

Maddie at a Buddhist Temple in Leh with Forest

Not too long after Forest returned to the US, my friends Carlie and Maya came to visit. I had met these lovely friends during my junior year study abroad semester in a sustainable development program in Thailand. We decided to meet up in Mysore, a city in Karnataka about a 5 hour bus ride from Kotagiri, so that I could explore a new place with them before taking them around my neck of the hills. Even in the planning approach, I recognized just how much I had learned from my travels with Forest and how much more confidence I had in traveling around India at this point. I reserved my seat on a bus to Mysore only a few days before I left. Wow, who is this new me?! At the bus stand, we had this classic movie cliché run and slam hug into each other. Much more of a spontaneous, less-researched trip with Maya and Carlie, where we took recommendations from our AirBnB host and made itineraries together a day at a time. In Kotagiri, I showed them some familiar spots and we tried out a 5km walk I had heard about to a viewpoint of Catherine Falls in a town I hadn’t yet explored. We went on this adventure with Annika, Elin, and Theo too, the newly arrived Swallows Fellows from Sweden. When none of us felt that we were up for the long uphill walk back, I called one of the auto drivers I had become friends with and described our location on this random road in Tamil to Amul-anna. I felt proud for exploring new places and using my language learning to help us in this situation!

Shansi Stupa in Leh

View of Leh Ladakh

Most recently, just after Christmas and into the New Year, I had the opportunity to travel with my friends Julie and Antonia from Oberlin College! Our time together was such a wild mix of emotions. I remember when I got my acceptance letter for this fellowship back in late fall of 2019, I ran into Julie’s room (we shared a house) and screamed and we both jumped up and down and hugged and cried. When we had calmed down enough to take it all in, she turned to me and said that no matter what she would visit me in India. Julie, Antonia, and I had discussed this possibility back in May, so after such a long history, our time together in India felt so surreal. I had done a lot of travel around India by then, both with these visits and also with my friends and co-fellows here. So in planning this trip, I felt that I could put my worries away and just focus on the excitement around our time together. A few weeks before they arrived, we decided to go to Fort Kochi in Kerala for the international Biennale Art Festival, then to Madurai to explore and visit Phoebe, one of my Shansi co-fellows that works at Lady Doak College, and on to Kotagiri at the end. Having been to Fort Kochi previously with Forest, I felt totally comfortable navigating, however the Art Festival definitely gave me a new perspective on these spaces. In Madurai, I had such an eye-opening experience of being in a completely new place, while also having the power of language to communicate what I want to buy, where I want to go, what I want to do etc. The online language classes for the fellowship and now the many months spent in Tamil Nadu have allowed me to build up a strong foundation, yet I still feel surprised by my ability to navigate everyday life speaking Tamil. One such moment really stood out to me, when my friends and I were on the hunt for a packet of curd in the streets of Madurai so we could make fruit salad the next morning. We had just finished dinner at this amazing idli place and were walking to try and find a grocery store. However, we soon realized we were in the hardware district, seeing only sinks, pipes, and electrical wiring available in the shop fronts. I began going up to various store owners and asking in Tamil where I could buy curd. We got a few leads from people, however each set of directions was completely different! A right and left and then at the end of the road opposite to the school you will find a grocery store. Go down the main road and then take a left and then a right and you will find a tea stall that sells curd. Although I understood where they recommended we go, we eventually hailed an auto driver and I asked if we could look for some curd on the way back to our AirBnB. We eventually came across this tiny Aavin stall where I bought 3 packets of curd for 30 rupees. I will say that next morning’s fruit salad felt so much more satisfying and tasty! Another part of this last trip that felt unique and full circle was the ‘people’ aspect of our travels. After almost 10 months in India, I am so thankful to have met some amazing people who live all around the country, people that I can visit when I’m in their area, which is exactly what we did. We connected with my friend Yasir in Kochi, who I had met at an education network conference in Bangalore, and spent time with him at Biennale and during New Years. And we had an absolute blast with Lady Doak Shansi Fellow Phoebe and her friend Mathangi, a wonderful friend to the past 3 Madurai Shansi Fellows who I had heard so much about! I never expected this during my time in India, but I really felt the strength of the meaningful relationships and community I have developed in Kotagiri and across the country! At the end of this trip, Julie, Antonia, and I were reflecting on our time and travels together, and Julie expressed that she felt comfortable with her experience here in India and that the adjustment was faster and easier than she expected. In processing this, I felt proud that I had successfully planned and navigated this trip so that she did feel comfortable. This felt like a confirmation of how I myself have become comfortable and confident in my life here.

Trekking in the Himalayas

Trekking in Himalayas with Forest and Guide

As I wrap up my 10 months in India, this chapter of my life, I am definitely starting to feel a deep sadness about leaving the landscapes I am only just starting to know and the people who have come to mean so much to me. Yet I also feel so satisfied with how I’ve used this opportunity to live and work and travel in India, and I have faith that my community here will last longer than the 10 month time frame of this Fellowship. As I always remind myself, this journey centers around community for me, and I am so grateful to Shansi and the many beautiful people in my life who have guided me, grown with me, supported and loved me, and continue to walk with me, together in this experience. You all are my whole world. Thank you so much for everything.

Trekking in Himalayas

Trekking in Himalayas to Bhrigu Lake with Forest